Long-tailed Duck | Inca Dove | Black Swift | American Oystercatcher | Red Knot | South Polar Skua | Common Murre | Yellow-footed Gull | Red-throated Loon | Western Cattle Egret | Yellow-crowned Night-Heron | Dusky-capped Flycatcher | Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jay | Brown Thrasher | American Dipper | Northern Waterthrush | Blackburnian Warbler | Palm Warbler | Rose-breasted Grosbeak | Painted Bunting
Long-tailed Duck | Common Goldeneye | Red-necked Grebe | Black Swift | Western Cattle Egret | Franklin’s Gull | Yellow-footed Gull | Pacific Loon | SWALLOW-TAILED KITE | Tropical Kingbird | THICK-BILLED KINGBIRD | Swainson’s Thrush | Brown Thrasher | Cassin’s Sparrow |Palm Warbler | Pine Warbler
Long-tailed Duck | Red-necked Grebe | White-winged Dove | Yellow-crowned Night-Heron | Brown Booby | Dusky-capped Flycatcher | Brown-crested Flycatcher | THICK-BILLED KINGBIRD | Purple Martin | Brown Thrasher | White Wagtail | Clay-colored Sparrow | Orchard Oriole | American Redstart | Chestnut-sided Warbler | Palm Warbler | Pine Warbler | Black-and-white Warbler | Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Updates, updates, updates! This was the heading of multiple recent emails received by the many who make our education programs happen. That’s right-after almost two years of no school field trips at all, Los Angeles Audubon is back at it, sharing nature with residents of all ages that call Los Angeles home.
There is not much that the Audubon docents at Ballona Wetlands and Kenneth Hahn Park enjoy more than walking a group of students through our wonderful wetlands and uplands, seeing their eyes light up when they see something new or come to understand how things are interconnected. So, we were as disappointed as our students when all field trips were canceled due to COVID in March 2020.
At the moment, the State has approved a plan that would disrupt much of the Ballona Wetlands and that is a ‘restoration’ in name only. A section of habitat, known as Area A, is slated to be bulldozed beyond recognition in a misguided attempt to “reconnect” the wetlands to the open ocean. However, historical records indicate that Ballona Creek only very occasionally reached all the way to the sea, and only during extremely heavy rain years. The plan, known as Alternative One, would create a full tidal habitat that never existed previously on the site.
2020 has been a year that has seen much upending of the world and its citizens. But there is consistency to be found in the natural world, and for me, that is a great source of comfort. Nature does not know that a pandemic is raging around the world, and continues to go about its business, in all its wonder, every single day.
Time spent outdoors can be quite the antidote for the sagging spirit. Southern California abounds in locations that remind us of the beauty of our state, and that there is a larger whole to the world than the niche that is occupied by us humans. What follows is a list of some of my favorite spots to step back, experience the natural world and be inspired rather than discouraged. Each place listed is within a two-hour drive of downtown Los Angeles, with the exception of the final listing. Some are extremely local. And all should be a tonic to malaise!
The year 2020 has been rife with events unlike any that we have ever seen. Our way of life from a mere six months ago has changed in many new and challenging ways. Lots of new nomenclature is also popping up in the language that we use: compliance, non-compliance, rate per 100,000, unprecedented, synchronous, asynchronous, pandemic—the list goes on and on.
Sign up to join our mailing list to receive our newsletter and updates on upcoming events.
